Navarrosa, who is currently writing his thesis on the pope’s 2016 encyclical 'Amoris Laetitia,' recalls meeting Francis in 2021 and says he had hoped to meet him again. “I’m not worried about the future of the church, because it is guided by the Holy Spirit,” he says.

Lashed by an off-season typhoon, Pope Francis stepped out on a rain-soaked makeshift stage in front of hundreds of thousands of weeping pilgrims in the central Philippines.Organisers had warned him to cancel the 2015 open air mass in Tacloban as the weather had worsened.

Tributes to Pope Francis poured in from around the world, from presidents to people of all walks of life, after the Vatican announced the pontiff’s death at age 88 on Monday.